Saving Riley
by Gamegirl1
Summary: What if Riley was safe? What if she didn't die? Read to find out how this could even be possible. RileyXEllie
1. Chapter 1

**We'll be starting a bit after the girls get bit.  
Enjoy.**

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"I'm gunna turn soon." Riley stated, as a trail of blood trickled from her lips.

"Just hold on a little longer.. please." Ellie said, as she held her best friend in her arms. "We're suppose to lose our minds together."

"Ellie, I don't think-"

"Riley!" Ellie yelled, as the tears welled up in her eyes. "Don't leave me. I.. I don't want to end up alone." The tears began to roll down the younger girl's cheeks, leaving little dark circles on her friend's clothing.

Riley nodded, fighting back a painful groan as she began spitting up more blood. "I'll try."

_"Why am I not turning? Why the fuck am I not turning?"_ Ellie thought as she looked down at her bite mark on her arm.

"Ellie.." Riley choked out. "You need to leave."

"I'm not leaving you."

"If I.. t-turn before you.. I'll..." Riley muttered, as her body gave an involuntary twitch. "I want you to be safe.. from me."

"No..." "Ellie, please. Make.. this easy for me."

"I can't just leave you!" Ellie shouted, looking down at the girl in her arms.

"You have to!" Riley shouted back, accidentally spitting small specks of blood across the younger girl's face.

"There's no way I'll-" Suddenly, Riley fell from Ellie's arms to the cold damp concrete floor."Riley!" The older girl began to spasm and twitch uncontrollably. Blood was flowing from her mouth and her eyes were turning a sick green color. She screamed in pain as the infection took full control of her body sending her into a series of convulsions and throes.

Ellie backed up until her back hit the wall as she watched in fear. She wanted to do something, anything. But she stayed there, paralyzed. She watched, the tears streaming from her eyes, until her friend's body became still.

"Riley..?"

...

"Riley..."

Ellie pulled her knees up and began to sob. The girls jeans were now tear stained and wet. "We.. were suppose to go together."

...

"Come back."

...

Slowly Riley's body began to twitch once more. It climbed to it's feet, it's arms hung limp at it's sides.  
Riley's sick eyes stared straight at Ellie. "Riley." Ellie said cautiously. "It's me, your-" The creature lunged at her, swinging it's fists and clawing as it yelled and groaned in what sounded more like pain and fear than anger and hunger. Ellie was qickly forced to the ground. "Riley!" Ellie screamed. "It's me! It's Ellie!" The infected creature was clearly trying to hurt her.  
To kill her.

"I'm sorry." Ellie said, as she kicked Riley's body hard in the stomach sending the creature stumbling backwards, giving Ellie just enough time to sprint to the door.

She pushed past the door, looking around for a place to hide. Along the wall were a series of crates and boxes, Ellie quickly dashed behind one and pushed both her hands to her nose and mouth, trying to stop herself from crying and breathing too loudly. _"Shut up Ellie! Shut the fuck up or your best friend will rip you to fucking pieces!"_

As the creature began walking down the hallway, Ellie pushed herself up against the wall, trying to make herself as small as possible. She wanted to hide in the darkness, at least until she turned. _"I just need to wait it out. I'll be with you soon."_

The time ticked away slowly. Ellie watched in silence as her friend's body was now standing just down the hallway. Ellie sat in the shadows for a while more, just watching, letting herself shed a few more silent tears from time to time. Riley appeared to be crying too. She certainly was making a lot of noise and Ellie began to wonder if it would draw other infected to them.

_"What if people show up?"_ Ellie thought as panic began to sink in. The thought of some random person coming in and shooting Riley was too much for her to bare.

_"I need to find you some place safe."_ Ellie thought to herself as she looked at Riley down the hallway. She began looking around for something she could use. Just across the way she spotted an empty bottle. Luckily, Riley's back was turned to her, so as long as she remained quiet, Ellie thought she could make it over there to snatch up the bottle and return to her hidding place, and that's just what she did. _"Alright, now what?" _Ellie wondered.

The young girl began slowly making her way down the hall. She peeked into the room closest to her. _"No good."_ Ellie thought seeing all the shattered open windows. She moved on to the next door. This store wasn't any better due to the front window being smashed. As she was examining the room she noticed the sign on the counter read "Buddy's Butcher's Shop" and behind that counter was a heavy looking metal door._ "Maybe there?"_ Ellie thought, as she snuck into the shop, being careful not to make a sound.

_"I'll be back for you. I won't leave you."_

Ellie made her way to the counter and silently creeped around it. "Employees Only" Read the dirty yellow sign hanging from the heavy metal door. Ellie looked into the small room. There were no windows and the walls were all a shiny silver color. There were hooks on the ceiling and several metal shelves lined the walls. "This'll do." Ellie thought as she examined the old yellow post-it note she found on the ground. "Set temp to -5."  
_"What the hell does that mean?"_ Ellie wondered.

The redhead looked back out in the hallway. Riley was still there, groaning.  
"Alright." Ellie whispered clutching the bottle. "Here goes nothing." Ellie crawled into a cupboard underneath the counter and tossed the bottle into the little room. It shattered and instantly Ellie heard a loud scream and the sound of feet getting closer and closer to her. Suddenly she saw Riley's feet run past her and into the silver room. Ellie quickly stood up and slammed the door shut. She could hear Riley screaming on the other side of the door and once again her emotions got the best of her and she fell to her knees with her back against the door.

"I'm sorry, Riley." Ellie said, crying into her hands. The young girl sat there listening to her friend groan and scream and claw at the metal sat there for what felt like forever, just running her fingers over her bite before she fell asleep. Ellie woke up as she felt her body being lifted off the floor.

"What the fuck?" Ellie yelled as she kicked and screamed at the man who was holding her.

"Ellie!" Yelled a dark skinned women as she came around the corner.

"Marlene?"

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**Hey guys, thanks for reading. The next chapter will be done soon. Please leave a comment and let me know if there's anything I could put in to make this story better.**  
**I have a plan for this fic, but I'm open to suggestions.  
Thanks again.**


	2. Chapter 2

**So after listening to "I Got You Babe" by Etta James, I found some inspiration to keep writing.  
If you haven't listened to that song, I suggest you do. It's actually really good. Riley has great taste in music.**

* * *

"You don't sound very happy to see me." Marlene commented as she looked at Ellie from the doorway.

"Because you've got one of your fucking fireflies holding me like a fucking baby!" Ellie yelled as she punched at the man's back.

"Put her down." Marlene commanded.

The man set her down and backed away. "Why are you even here?" Ellie asked.

"I told you, I've got people watching you. And when you didn't show up for training this morning, and I couldn't find my newest recruit, I knew I'd find you in this place." Marlene explained.

"It doesn't even matter." Ellie said as she raised her sleeve, revealing her bite mark.

Marlene quickly raised her pistole and pointed it at Ellie. "What the hell is that?"

"It's a fucking bite mark!" Ellie yelled, tears starting to form in her eyes.

"Keep your voice down." Marlene commanded. There was a short pause.

"Damn it, Ellie! What would your mom think? What was so hard about staying-"

"Just stop." Ellie said shaking her head. She was in no condition to be lectured and Marlene saw that.

Marlene sighed. "Fuck."

"Where's Riley?" Marlene asked.

Ellie motioned to the door behind her. "Locked her up." She said with a shrug, the tears now crawling down her face. "I had to. To keep her safe."

"She turned?" There was a hint of urgency in her voice.

"Y-yeah." Ellie said, choking back her tears.  
Marlene turned on her heel and yelled to the men she had with her. "I've got one! And she's one of ours!" A few of the men ran into the shop.

"What's going on?" Ellie asked, panicked.

"Get her out of here." Marlene told one of the men.

"No! No, what are you doing?!"Ellie yelled as the man from before came in and picked her up, holding her still in his large arms. "Don't hurt her!" Ellie screamed as she was carried out the door. "Don't fucking hurt her!" The redhead kicked and punched at the man holding her. "Let me go motherfucker!"

"Shut the hell up!" The man commanded.

"No! You-" Suddenly the sound of Riley's snares rang throughout the mall. Through the large shattered front window Ellie could see her. Riley was standing there, groaning and clawing as several Fireflies wearing long white coats closed in on her.  
"Don't hurt her!" Ellie screamed again, trying her best to get free of the man.

"I said shut up! You're gunna get us fucking killed!" The man holding Ellie said in a loud whisper.

"Hey, fuck you-" Suddenly, Ellie was delivered a strong blow to the back of the head.  
"Riley..." Slowly the world around her faded to darkness.

* * *

**So Ellie is knocked out and the Fireflies are doing something to Infected Riley.  
****Sorry for the short chapter, but I have Chemistry to do. I'll post the next chapter in a few days.  
****Thank you to the people who left nice comments about the first chapter, it's always nice to get reviews and it encourages me to write faster.**


	3. Chapter 3

**I ship Riley and Ellie so hard. I can't even.**

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Ellie sat up with a jolt. Her hands immediately went to the back of her head. It was throbbing with pain.

_"Fuck!"  
_ Her eyes blinked as her memory slowly returned.

_"Where the fuck am I?" _She thought as she looked around the small room she was now in. The first thing she noticed were the bars. She thought she was in a cage. The small damp cell was dark and the ceiling was leaking. The water droplets were being caught in a small dinged up silver bucket on the floor next to the cot with old dirty sheets she was sitting on. She climbed out of the bed and made her way to the wall of bars. She looked out through them and notice someone was just outside her prison.

"Hey!" Ellie yelled to alert the man.

"You're up." Said the guard casually.

"What? You thought I was fucking dead?" Ellie asked with a sting to her words.

"I was told you'd be out longer." Said the guard, glancing at Ellie before returning his gaze back out in front of him.

"Where the hell am I?" Ellie asked, narrowing her eyes.

"Firefly Boston HQ."

"That helps." The redhead said sarcastically.

"Look, that thing on your arm is the real deal, we can't be letting an infected go walking around our place just like that." The Firefly said as he pulled off his hat and whipped the sweat from his brow with his arm. "Sure is a hot one." He commented.

"Don't change the subject!" Ellie snapped. "Where's Riley?"

"She's with-" He stopped. "I was given orders. I can't talk about it."

"But you know." Ellie said, now trying to persuade her way to the answers she craved. "You could just-"

"Look kid." He started. "I'd love to let you know what's going on. But I have orders." He paused. "I'm sorry."

Ellie stood there for a moment then sighed before turning around and heading back to the filthy bed. "Thanks for nothing." She said as she shook her head defeatedly.

She climbed up onto the bed and pulled her knees up to her chin. She stared at the water bucket, watching the droplets fall and splash over and over again as her mind wandered back to the events of the previous days.

_"Ellie." Riley said. "Ellie, your arm."_

_Ellie looked down and examined her arm. _  
_A bite. _  
_"No." She said in shock as she dropped her blood covered knife to the floor. "No no no no no..." She said in a panic as she whipped the dripping blood from her bite._  
_She looked over at Riley, the tears already forming in her eyes, only to be greeted by Riley's own hand with a bite mark as well._

_Riley sighed defeatedly as she looked at her hand._

_Ellie looked up, panicked and scared. She felt the anger begin to build up, she was mad at herself for not being able to climb up the scaffolding and causing not only herself to be bitten but also Riley, her best friend. She saw a pipe just across the room and went over and picked it up. The pipe was long and rusty and it turned Ellie's hands a slight orange color upon contact, but she didn't care. She didn't care about anything as she walked over to Riley and raised it high above her head, bringing it down on the table of flower pots just behind her friend. "Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!" She screamed as she smashed the pots to pieces. Once most were broken, she used the last of her energy to fling the old pipe to the side and fell to the floor next to her friend exhausted and out of breath._

_"There's some more stuff over there you can break." Riley said with a shrug. She kept her eyes cast downward at the ground. She was scared, more scared than ever before._

_Ellie wipped her eyes, smeering the infected's blood across her face. "What are we gunna go?" She asked, her voice sound hopeless as she tried to choke back her sobs._

_"The way I see it, we got two options." The older girl said as she took her gun out. "Option one. We take the easy way out." Riley motioned to her pistol. She then looked over at Ellie, looking for a reaction, when there wasn't one she looked back at her gun. "It's quick and painless." Still no reaction from Ellie. Riley then sat the gun out in front of her. "I'm not a fan of option one."_

_Ellie sat there looking out in front of her, listening intently to the older girl speak. Her fingers trailed over her bloody bite._

_"Two. We fight."_

_"Fight for what?" Ellie asked, her voice almost seemed surprised at Riley's option two. "We're gunna turn into one of those things."_

_"There are a million ways we should've died before today." Riley shrugged. "And a million ways we can die before tomorrow."_  
_There was a pause as Ellie took in all that Riley had been saying._  
_"But we fight... for every second we get to spend with each other. Whether it's two minutes... Or two days... We don't give that up." Riley turned to find Ellie staring straight at her. "I don't want to give that up." Ellie looked away, staring back at her feet._  
_"My vote... Let's just wait it out." Riley looked back at Ellie and Ellie whipped more tears from her eyes. "You know we can.. be all poetic and just lose our minds together."_

_They sat in silence before Ellie spoke up._

_"What's option three?"_

_Riley looked away defeatedly and sighed. She then looked over at Ellie and waited until their eyes met. "I'm sorry." _

_Ellie looked away, her somber expression was evident as she whipped more blood across her face well trying to dry her tears._

_Riley looked at the younger girl, her eyes lingering on the redhead's lips for longer than she dared to admit before she sighed and gripped Ellie's arm. "C'mon." She said as she lifted herself off the floor. "Let's get outta here."_

_Ellie sat there, staring off into space. Letting the events of the day set in. It was too much. She couldn't handle it. Although the end of her life was approaching, she felt lucky. She was with her best friend. The only person on this Earth she truly cared about._

_Riley extended her hand to Ellie and the younger girl took hold. Riley lifted the redhead to her feet and the two began their silent walk back to their stuff they had left behind in their sprint from the infected. The long hallways that were lined with shipping crates and old boxes seemed dark and gloomy, even though the mall lights were still shinning bright. _

_They soon entered the room where Ellie's walkman and the glass display case where they had shared their first kiss was._

_"Aw fuck." Ellie said as she ran over and picked up the pieces of her now broken walkman._

_Riley looked over Ellie's shoulder and saw the younger girl's most prized possession in pieces on the floor. "I think.. an infected must have attacked it. A clicker maybe?" Riley said, feeling guilty because it was her who turned the music on._

_Ellie looked at it, disappointedly. She tried to piece it back together even though she knew it was beyond any repair she could do herself._

_"I bet we can find something better around here." Riley suggested, her voice dripping with guilt as she looked around the old store hopping to spot a walkman display or something of the sort._

_"It's fine." Ellie said with a sigh. "It.. doesn't really matter now." The younger girl gave up messing with her broken music player and left it in pieces on the floor. "Let's go get our bags. I'm starving." She lied as she took off for the next room._

_Riley looked down at the pieces of walkman on the floor and quickly scooped them up before following Ellie back into the other room. She saw her sitting down with their bags. She sighed and went over to an empty table._

_"She needs time." Riley thought to herself as she sat down and dumped the broken music player pieces onto the table and went about trying to fix it._

_Time passed slowly. Ellie sat on the floor with her legs out stretched in front of her while she looked down at the toes of her sneakers. Her mind was racing and she was exhausted. She allowed herself to close her eyes for a few minutes, but a nightmare of falling off a high building woke her back up instantly. "Fuck." Ellie muttered to herself after she realized it was a dream._

_She stretched a little and let her arms fall to her sides, but as they did her right hand fell onto something hard. She looked over and saw the waterguns. She then began to scan the room for Riley. She was worried, until she saw her sitting with her back facing her at a small table. Ellie looked at Riley for a moment as her feelings for the older girl welled up in her heart causing her chest to tighten. She replayed the kiss in her mind and that stupid smile came back to her face._

_Ellie looked back at the waterguns next to her and smirked.  
_

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**Thanks for reading.  
As usual, reviews are greatly appreciated.  
I hope you guys are liking this, the next chapter should be pretty cute. I think.. I don't really know. I haven't written it yet... XD**

By the way, I want to write a collaborative fic with this ship. Maybe in an AU or something. If you're interested, please message me and we'll talk. :)  



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